Yesterday I suffered a great frustration, my iPod broke. Just like most iPod users, I'm an addict. And so to go even 18 hours without my iPod is hard to do. The radio has so many commercials and doesn't play the music or the podcasts I like. So today when I woke up it became a priority I get myself to the Apple store to get this taken care of.

I made my way to the Mall at Millenia, Orlando's ritzy touristy mall with high ceilings and stores like "Chanel" and "Gucci." Stores I just walk by and try not to make eye contact with the employees. Thankfully it is easy to get to their newly redecorated Apple store. It's a nice and clean layout, the middle of the store has very few things giving plenty of space to mingle and walk around.

The employees are all dressed the same and helpful. I came at a rather busy time but thankfully was able to get an appointment with a "Genius" only ten minutes after signing into their system. In truth it was twenty minutes before I was able to get help. And even though I had signed in for the system and could see my name creeping up the queue I found it frustrating to just mingle and not wait in a line.

I guess that goes to show how our society has shaped our minds, a line is a physical representation of moving closer to service, and so to sit on the side of the store waiting for my name to be called was disconcerting and somewhat unsettling.

Once I got service there was a comedic moment where two Geniuses fought over me. A guy named Tom had called my name but as soon as I sat down a girl named Sally said, "Is that my Patrick?" Not in the "I know him," sort of way, but instead she had been about to call my name. I can only guess they must get commission or some other motivation to serve clients and customers. So Tom handed me over to Sally and I explained what happened.

Through no fault of my own my iPod screen had broke in the hot Florida summer heat. I hadn't left it in my car or anything, but it had shown signs of being questionable previously and yesterday it cracked. So she quickly took it back and disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned she informed me that I was out of warranty but that they could replace it for me with a refurbished iPod or I could "recycle" it and get a discount on a NEW iPod.

Had I had the money I probably would have done that and upgraded to one of the higher storage units, but 30 gigs does me just fine for the time being and so I decided to just get a refurbished model. They had one in stock and in just five minutes I was heading out the door with the refurbished one.

So many stores are focused on being hands off with customers and for the Apple store they are all about being involved with the customers. They had probably three times the staff of any other store of comparable size in the mall. It was like something out of a commercial but I eavesdropped as one of their "Tutors" walked an elderly lady through how to use her Apple computer. He was patient and kind and answered all of her questions.

While it sucks that I had to drop some money on my iPod, I give them high marks on service and attentiveness. It's no wonder people get sucked into the Apple cult.